Kind of Cruel

Sophie Hannah

Amber Hewerdine suffers from chronic insomnia. As a last resort, she visits a hypnotherapist, where she hears herself saying, "kind, cruel, kind of cruel" under hypnosis. The words awaken a vague memory, but she dismisses the whole episode as nonsense. Two hours later, however, Amber is arrested for the brutal murder of a woman she's never heard of, and the only way she can clear her name is by remembering exactly where she's seen those words. The latest in British author Hannah's Zailer/Waterhouse mystery series (after The Other Woman's House, 2012) is a spine-tingling page-turner.